Cast Away
by Nova Viper
Summary: AU- The Contact War has been waging for 3 years, and neither side is budging. When a disgraced Commander Shepard is captured, what will it spell for both sides?
1. Chapter 1

The Contact War has been waging for the past 3 years, following humanity's first trip through the Arcturus relay. Following bad intel, Commander Shepard is inadvertently taken prisoner by turian forces. I own nothing.

* * *

Her breath ached as it was forced to enter and exit her lungs. Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her ears, barely audible over the sounds of the ongoing battle around her. The dusk of the planet was cool, and the wind only served to further chill the fine sheen of sweat on her chest and face. She didn't feel cold in the slightest as her bare feet pounded the ground frantically. Her green eyes were focused with a singular intensity on the small smattering of foliage that eventually led to a more wooded area beyond the base.

Once, in a former life, she would have been appalled at her current course of action. She was running from the firefight that was engulfing the Alliance base around her, rather that picking up the discarded weapon of a downed soldier and using it to aid her fellow soldiers. Except they weren't her fellow soldiers. Not anymore, at least. Not for at least eighteen months. Not since her incarceration. Not since Lieutenant Commander Shepard had been court-marshalled and stripped of her rank. It felt like an eternity ago. She wasn't that person any more.

She dove under a pile of scattered supply crates that provided minimal cover as gunships, both human and turian, flew low overhead. A fierce dogfight was occurring in the skies of this godforsaken rock. The base had been completely unprepared for this sort of attack. The assumption that a detention center would be the least of the turian's concerns had clearly been misguided. From her hiding place, she could see a group of turian ground troops push forward from her left, assault rifles held tight to their shoulders as they moved swiftly forward, pushing the human defenders further into the complex. She had to wait until they passed before she could make her break for the forest edge.

Lying prone on the dewy grass, Shepard began to feel the cold seeping through her thin prison smock and pants. She might as well have been naked for all the protection the useless cloth gave her. She watched with a wry grin as several other prisoners- who'd apparently had similar ideas to her own- were gunned down as they ran for the woods. It was unimportant when it was friendly or enemy fire took them down. _Idiots_, she thought bitterly. The base had been a maximum security detention center for criminals deemed 'significant Alliance security threats': splinter groups, terrorists, traitors... and the (in)famous Commander Shepard. The only prisoners lacking at the base were POWs, as they were deemed to valuable to be cast out and forgotten out in the ass end of Alliance space.

Sensing that the turian line had progressed a sufficient amount, Shepard shimmied out from her cover and sprinted hard for the brush a scant fifty meters ahead of her. Her foot caught on an unseen obstacle, sending her tumbling forward. Muscle memory kicked in as she tumbled, tucking her chin to her chest, twisted her shoulders to turn the fall into a roll. She sprang up to her feet without hesitation to continue her sprint- which proved difficult since whatever she had tripped over had managed to break several bones in her foot. Her sprint turned into a limping jog, adrenaline forcing her to ignore the majority of the pain shooting up her leg. A shout and gunfire too close for comfort on her right flank sent her diving the rest of the way into the brush, hiding in the low flora. However brave a soldier she had been had long fled her mind; she was in animalistic survival mode, working on pure instinct powered by fear.

The shouts and gunfire grew closer, and she could see human and turian soldiers firing their weapons and fighting hand-to-hand nearby. They were a whirling mass of bodies that vaguely reminded her of vultures fighting over a carcass. It was mildly amusing to her, given the semi-avian, dinosaur-like appearance of the enemy. Well, the Alliance's enemy. As far as she was concerned, the human soldiers were just as much her enemy now as the turians had once been. Forcing her gaze away from the maelstrom of war and back toward her goal of freedom, she began crawling prone toward the thicker foliage. She would be damned if she died now, given all the shit she had lived through. A stray bullet in a fight that wasn't hers would not be the end of Commander Shepard.

Reaching young trees on the edge of the wood, she stood and limped as quickly she could deeper into cover. Using the thicker trunks of more mature trees to shield her from the intense fighting, she made her way parallel to the main complex of military buildings, intent on making it to the airstrip. If she was lucky, she could hot-wire some kind of transport to get somewhere sa- else. _Nowhere is safe_, she thought in conjunction to the internal correction she had made. She needed to get it of here. This wasn't her fight.

The small forest ended abruptly and converted into a vast grassy field that bordered the airstrip. Hanging her right leg with its broken foot uselessly under her, she managed to use her upper body and left leg to hoist herself fairly high up into a size-able tree that allowed her a better vantage point. Daylight was rapidly receding beyond the horizon, but the glow of fires, explosions, and tracer rounds made vision easy in the encroaching darkness. The turians were rapidly pushing the humans back. She snorted in dry humor to herself- of _course_the turians would take this base with relative ease. The staff was fairly small, meant only to maintain the facilities and keep the prisoners in check. This place was hardly set up to take on an enemy insurgence.

Sitting on her perch in the tree, Shepard found herself oddly calm viewing the carnage before her. There was something she found beautiful about watching this hell hole burn to the ground. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as the wind gently tussled her grimy, damp hair. The scent of destruction and death came with the wind as it blew over the base, kicking the various fires of the complex to burn more fiercely. The snap of a twig behind her caused her to instantly draw her legs up to her body and press herself into the trunk of the tree, willing herself to become one with it.

She cast a look over her should to determine the source of the sound. A small band of turian infiltrators was quietly stalking toward the air field. _Shit_, she cursed inwardly, spotting what were clearly explosives in their hands. The two at the front of the group spoke briefly before separating. One, with a dark face and white markings broke right, the others following him toward the air field; the other, pale with what appeared to be blue markings, stayed where he was, fiddling with his omnitool. Casting her attention back to the main group, she watched with dismay as they quickly an to the small air strip and planted their bombs on the last few air transports. She turned back around to find the one that had reminded behind- trigger man, perhaps?- only to see nothing but dark forest behind her. _Where did he-_The thought was cut short by a massive explosion. Apparently, the air transports had not been the only target of the infiltrators. The communications tower had apparently also been on the menu, as a massive fireball engulfed the building.

The shockwave and surprise at the size of the explosion of several air transports and the comm building was enough to send Shepard tumbling off her perch in the tree as it shook violently. While she managed to avoid the majority of the large branches of the tree, she was not so lucky as to miss a fairly large one roughly a third up the thick trunk. Whatever she made contact with on her way down came tumbling with her. The object was large, solid and decidedly heavy when it landed partially on her, winding her, when the ground came up to meet her. Then it moved. Fierce blue eyes met hers- _turian_ eyes. Screaming, Shepard did her best to free the portion of her body trapped under the previously missing turian that now lay directly on her abdomen and legs. His hardsuit was slowly crushing her, pressing painfully into her lithe body. The turian scrambled to remove himself, tearing her thin prison uniform, appearing to be reaching for something, _his gun_her brain insisted.

Legs free from his weight, she scrambled to her feet as best she could given her previous and newly acquired injuries. She turned and made a break to get further into the forest. Her pathetic limping run gained new haste when she heard his growling paired with the thumping of his boots hitting the ground after her in pursuit. A hand taloned hand reached for her and attempted to grab her smock. The sad fabric tore with little resistance, allowing Shepard to continue her attempt for freedom. The attempt was short-lived, as another hand came down and grabbed her arm and pulled her down abruptly to the ground. Quick, practiced hands hand her pinned face-down and cuffed by her wrists before she could even attempt to resist.

The restraints and his armored knee in her back did little to dissuade her spirit, and she wriggled back and forth as best she could under him, snarling like a feral animal the whole time. She heard others coming up to join him, their voices loud behind her. She had no idea what they were discussing in their trills and clicks, but she figured it had to do with her, as her captor seemed to be motioning to her and speaking to the dark turian with white markings. The dark one cast his green eyes down to her, brow-plates raised in what seemed to be appeared to be surprise or curiosity. She met his gaze with hers, snarling and baring her teeth at him. She started screaming obscenities at him, calling him every foul thing that came to her mind, telling him precisely where he could go and several imaginative ways of how to get there.

He cast a look over to one of the others standing farther back from where she was pinned and drawled something out, motioning to her. The one holding her down started to speak before something hard struck her head sharply. Blackness enveloped Shepard's world.


	2. Chapter 2

_Shepard sat atop what was left of the mako. She stared blankly into the vast empty dunes of Akuze. A blistering wind kicked up dust and sand, jingling the dog tags she held tightly in her left hand. In her right was her rifle. Her desert gear kept the majority of the harsh elements of the hellish planet out, but did little to keep her from replaying the week's events over and over in her mind._

_They had been sent out here to find, hack into, then destroy a turian listening post that was intercepting Alliance transmissions, and also acted as a buoy for turian communications. A fairly simple mission focused more on gathering intel than confronting an enemy head-on. Their squad had been relatively small- ten, including the Commander. There was no reason to invest significant manpower. All the intel they had on the Akuze gave no indication of needing major firepower._

_They had been dropped in and had taken a few days to find the listening post. Another couple days were required to decrypt and download the intel needed. Then they blew the thing to hell. They had been in camp, awaiting pick-up when everything went sideways. No one had known the planet was home to thresher maws- or if they had, they had not seen it relevant to pass on to her squad._

_Her grip around the dog tags tightened as she heard her men screaming as the acid burned through their armor. The sound of flesh tearing loudly as limbs were tended from bodies echoed in her mind. She and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams had managed to make it into the second of the makos after the first one had been dragged under with five of her team inside. She had hoped against hope that she and the gunny would be spared the same fate._

_But Williams had been injured. One of the damn beasts had nicked the artery in her leg. The women has tried desperately to stem the bleeding. But the blood kept flowing, despite their best efforts. Williams had died after a few excruciating hours. Shepard was still covered in the gunny's dried blood._

_Dawn had just started to peak over the horizon, painting the sky brilliants pinks and purples in sharp contrast with the fiery orange sand. It was beautiful. Shepard cursed its beauty. The dark outline of the shuttle was slowly growing in the distant sky. They were coming to get her. Only her. No one else. She was going to be safe in her bed tonight after telling the families of her squad that their loved ones would not be coming home._

_As the shuttle touched down, she hopped down from the mako and trotted to her rescuers. Four marines armed to the teeth quickly established a small perimeter around the transport as a fifth motioned for her to board quickly._

_"Where's the rest of your squad Commander?" the marine just inside the shuttle asked in a harsh voice. Asshole._

_She could only shake her fistful of dog tags at him as she board. He cursed under his breath and motioned for his men to retreat back into the transport. They were a three day burn from the patrol carrier. This was going to be a long ride. Shepard didn't care, as long as she got off this damned planet._

* * *

Garrus hadn't signed up for the mission. He wasn't infantry. He was a damned interrogation specialist. But his previous training and experience as a sniper had somehow earned him being _volun-told_ for the strike against the base that was a suspected supply depot on some random planet on the very farthest outskirts of Alliance had been told that such a strike was an excellent opportunity, as the base had no orbital support and little ground defenses. Almost too good to be true. Hitting this base would be an easy mission that would aid in disrupting supply lines.

It had not helped that Nihlus of all people was heading the strike. The damn man had saved Garrus' ass on more than one occasion, and thus knew that he was owed a few favors by the cantankerous turian. Garrus had been reluctant to join the war effort in the first place. The main directive had been the frustrating nature of his work at C-sec, with kilometers of red tape keeping him from being able to actually _do_ his job. Naturally, when Nihlus had offered an out by joining his operations securing war assets, a way to escape the Vakarian patriarch breathing down Garrus' neck, he could hardly say no.

When the Hierarchy sent down the order to hit the supply depot, Nihlus had coordinated with several other captains for the mission. A total of five frigates and their squads were to be involved, with only three descending planet-side. The other two were to remain in orbit in case the Alliance were to suddenly decide to defend the sad little outpost. Once going planet-side though, there was something off about this mission that Garrus felt in his hide. There were little to no defenses to speak of, outside of the handful of guard towers and check-points. There were only a few ground and air transports, nowhere near enough for a standard supply depot. Hand their intel been wrong?

Nihlus put together a small strike team to blow the airfield and communications building, to prevent the base from calling for back-up. Garrus was ordered to stay behind and snipe any resistance they met. A sturdy tree branch provided an excellent sniper nest, allowing him a broad view of the airfield and Nihlus and his men. When the explosion finally came, he was prepared for it, bracing himself slightly against the tree trunk. What he had not counted on was the entity that came crashing down on his back, dragging him off the branch and down to the soggy ground below.

The body under him was tiny and unarmored. The wide, human eyes that stared up at him were not what he was expecting. The realization had him reaching for his cuffs, which of course sent the human running. _Damn it_, he cursed to himself. He ran after her easily, noticing how she severely favored her right leg- she was injured. He reached for her, his gloved talons tearing easily through the thin cloth she wore. _What the hell? Is she even a combatant?_

Pinning her went with little effort, despite her spirited efforts. His translator glitched at a few of the curses she spat out, but overall he was amused by her rage. Nihlus and his men easily caught up with them.

"What's going on Garrus?"

"Found a friend. Or rather, she found me. No idea who she is though."

"Hm. Well she might prove useful, because this is most definitely _not_a supply depot."

"No shit. What is it then?"

"Well, from what I could gather from the comm building," Nihlus said, stroking his chin and looking at the woman cuffed under Garrus thoughtfully, "I think it might be a prison."

That was unexpected. However, their discussion was interrupted by further cursing and screaming by the woman in question. Sighing, Nihlus motioned to one of his men, "Someone shut her up? She's giving me a headache."

The sharp crack of the rifle butt knocked her out cold, her body going limp under Garrus' knee. He rose to stand, and lifted her as gently as he could, given her injuries. She was light, but surprisingly heavy for her size. He nodded to the other turian to indicate that he was ready to head out.

* * *

She was laying on something rough but firm when she woke. A cot. Not dissimilar from the one that had been in her cell. There was a pounding in the back of her head, achingly reminding her of being knocked out. The room she was in was only a couple meters wide by a few more meters long. _From one cell to another_she thought, frowning. The interior was different from any Alliance cell she had been in. Her foggy mind reached back, looking for clues in her hazy memories. Ah yes- turians. They had attacked the base where she and several other high-profile military prisoners were being held. She couldn't fathom why the turians had chosen to attack the base- strategically, it was useless.

She heard the trills, hisses, growls, and clicks that made up turian language coming from the hall beyond her cell. A faint orange barrier kept her inside the cell, but she was able to walk up and see through it clearly. There were two turians clearly arguing beyond her containment barrier. One with black and red armor, dark plates, and light markings stood with arms crossed over his chest, staring with narrowed eyes at one with blue armor, light plates and blue markings. _Red and blue_, she snickered to herself. The two appeared to be male. The blue one stood with one hand on a cocked hip, indicating his attitude. He was actively returning the glare of his companion when a blue eyes slide over and noticed her. His mandibles clicked as they tightened against his face when he turned to face her. Red turned to see what had distracted Blue, and laid fierce green eyes one her.

Shepard pulled herself up to the fullest extent of her height, tilted her chin up and narrowed her eyes down her nose at them. She could glare with the best of them, if he wanted to play that game. He trilled at her. She raised an eyebrow. Apparently the Alliance had removed her translator. Wonderful.

"I can't understand you," she said, pointing to her ear.

Red frowned his brow plates and cocked his head to the sides. Blue covered his mouth with a hand and let out a warble that sounded... amused. Red growled at him, quieting Blue, before returning his gaze to her and stepping closer to her cell. He let out more trills, with some clicks and hisses. She folded her arms and stared blankly at him. He made more noises at her, the flanging of his voice more noticeable than it would have been with her translator. Behind him, Blue was quietly warbling again- this was highly amusing to him. Her lack of response must have frustrated Red, as he started growling low in his chest.

"You know, getting pissy isn't going to change anything," she said to him tiredly.

Then he let out a noise she didn't know turians were capable of. He barked at her. She felt her eyebrows try to jump off her face in surprise. She couldn't stop the manic laughter that bubbled up and out of her throat. That only seemed to piss Red off even more, as he started growling loudly at her. Blue warbled and trilled loudly from where he had taken to leaning against the wall. His mandibles were flared widely in what she took to be the turian version of a smile. Red turned away, mumbling to himself and stomped away from his prisoner and fellow turian.

Blue turned to her and strode- no, more like swaggered- over to her cell. Crossing his arms over the armored front of his chest, he stopped about arm's length from the barrier. He examined her with more amused curiosity than Red had. She straightened her posture and held her hands behind her back, her best 'Commander' pose that she could muster given how fatigued she was feeling. The change in stance seemed to confuse him, as he straightened up and peered at her more seriously than he had previously. He made a soft humming sound before clicking a few times and wandering off the same direction Red had gone.

Her onlookers gone, Shepard retreated back to her cot. She pulled the sad blanket and pillow out from under it and did her best to make herself comfortable given the circumstances. She had yet to decide whether her situation had improved or not. Only time would tell.


	3. Chapter 3

25...26...27...28...29...30...

Sweat dripped off her brow onto the metal floor of her cell as she did her push-ups. Her upper body strength had always left her with something to be desired, so she focused her workouts around improving it. She had no sense of what time it was or how long she had managed to sleep before her restlessness had spurred her current activity. Her torn smock lay off to the side, useless as a garment. Blue's talons has seen to the fabric's destruction, and the heat of the turian ship meant that her athletic bra was plenty of clothing with her pants rolled up above her knees.

She had switched to bicycle twists when she finally heard footsteps approaching her cell. She paused mid-twist to cast a glance over to Blue, who stood holding a small white case near the barrier. Shepard stood and mopped herself with her smock to get the majority of the sweat off of her before approaching the turian. He pulled a chair over from somewhere beyond her vision and used it as a surface to open the case. He pulled out a large metal syringe and a small sealed plastic package. He held it up barrier for her to examine. She moved in to get a closer look and realized the tiny capsul contain a translator. She grinned widely. The Alliance had been kind enough to remove hers when she was arrested. Now, Blue was going to give her a new one.

Eyeing the barrier that separated them, she was curious as to how exactly this little operation was supposed to work. Blue was otherwise occupied inserting the first of the capsules into the syringe. Shepard took to leaning on the door frame to watch him prepare everything. She was amazed by how dexterous he was with his large three fingered hand. She was clumsy as all hell with anything lacking a firing pin, and her fingers were smaller and more nimble that the turian's large talons.

Once he was ready, Blue motioned for her to come closer. She came over, but stayed a bit away from the barrier itself. He narrowed his eyes in what she could only call annoyance and motioned for her come closer again. Taking a step forward still left Shepard several centimeters from the barrier. Blue huffed at her.

Getting his not-so-subtle hint, she stepped up to press her nose lightly against the orange force field. Blue pantomimed turning his head and pressing it to the barrier, then motioned to her. Understanding, she did as he had shown.  
here was a sharp pain behind her jaw, under the curve of her ear as the capsule was inserted. She did her best not to clench her teeth, knowing it would only make the pain worse. When the pain eased, she turned and repeated the motion for the other ear. Another pain surged through her head before it too eased.

Stepping back and lightly massaging the tender injection points, she watched Blue fiddle with his omnitool a bit while mumbling. Static came through her ears before at last, she was able to make out his "test...test...test" in his flagging voice. She smiled as he looked up at her.

"From that look, I can assume they're working properly?" he said.

"Good job, Blue." she chuckled.

"Huh?"

Shepard motioned to his face and his armor with her arm, as though that would explain everything. "Blue."

"Right. You are aboard the Vindication. We are transporting you to the POW facility on Nanus."

Shepard narrowed her eyes. They were taking her to one of Palaven's moons. That did not bode well for her.

"You take anyone else prisoner?" she asked.

"No. As far as we could tell, you were the only survivor from the strike against the depot."

"Wait, the what?"

"The depot we picked you up from."

"That's why you attacked? You thought it was a supply depot?" She was incredulous. They'd been fed bad intel. That was surprising for the turian military. They were known to be efficient and precise; a mistake was unheard of.

Blue lifted a brow plate at her, seemingly intrigued by her words. However, humor in his voice gave away him away. "You mean to say it was not?"

She snorted, "No. It wasn't. It was a prison. But... You already knew that, didn't you?"

"Perhaps. What sort of prison? We found only humans there, but the security measures and armaments indicate that it housed more than petty criminals."

"That's a fair assumption. We were considered to be significant Alliance security threats." She folded her arms and resumed her leaning on the doorway. Blue was sitting in the chair he had grabbed earlier, looking completely at ease.

"So you were a prisoner, not a guard." It wasn't a question. Damn.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I pissed off some important people." It was true. But he didn't need the details.

"So we have that in common."

She couldn't help but smirk as she spoke. "Establish a rapport, a common ground. Make the subject comfortable in revealing what would otherwise be deemed insignificant details. You shouldn't be so heavy-handed, Blue."

"You have experience in interrogation," he said, returning her smirk.

"I was in prison, remember?"

"Yes, but even so. You don't look like a hard-timer. You're strong, but in the wrong way. From the security measures and the weapons the guards were carrying, that place was maximum security. Means dangerous prisoners, ones that can kill you- lifers, usually. But not you." He cast an appraising look over her exposed body, openly examined her stance. "You're military."

Again, not a question.

Shepard sneered at him. Damn him. She hadn't given him enough credit. He was more observant than his lax demeanor let on. He wasn't like the impatient 'intel acquisition' officers she'd had to deal with before.

"And you're a cop," she said. He nodded.

"C-sec. Well, at least before all of this mess. Probably go back after this is all done."

"Careful Vakarian, she's a clever one. Might use that against you," said another turian that strode into view. Red, the one she'd pissed off before.

"Ah, Red! I was wondering if I'd get to see you again."

He raised a brow plate in much that same way his companion had, shooting the turian in question a look. Blue, Vakarian, just shrugged.

"Any useful info out of her?" he asked Vakarian.

"She confirmed our suspicions; it wasn't a supply depot. It was a prison- max security. Internal threats to the Alliance. She's military of some type."

Red turned an appraising eye to her. She wiggled her fingers at him from her spot against the wall. He turned to fully face Shepard.

"I am Nihlus Kryik, captain of the Vindication. I am also the Spectre overseeing the operations on Nanus. Cooperate, and you will be treated justly. Become difficult, and your life will be... uncomfortable."

"Why keep an Alliance convict prisoner? What use could I possibly be to you?"

"Your value has yet to be determined, but that is not my call to make. The warden at Nanus will make that decision when we arrive."

"And when, exactly, will that be?"

"Five standard cycles."

With that, the Spectre turned and left the way he came. Shepard's gaze followed after him. "Seems like a friendly guy."

Vakarian chuckled at that. "He lightens up once you get to know him."

"I'll take your word for it, Vakarian."

"Garrus."

"Huh?"

"My name. Garrus. Almost no one calls me Vakarian except within the Hierarchy."

"Shepard."

"Shepard? Shepard, what?"

"It's just Shepard."

Garrus nodded in what seemed an almost respectful manner, appearing to understand.

"I'll be back soon with food. Don't go anywhere."

The remark earned a genuine laugh from Shepard. At least he had a sense of humor. There was little one could ask of their captors; a sense of humor was high on that short list.

* * *

By the third day of Garrus bringing her meals to her cell, the two were joking about antics in basic and the generally awful nature of military rations. The turian had made it clear that he found the war a terrible mistake and waste of time for both species involved. Shepard agreed with him completely about the war, but carefully avoided mentioning anything related to her contributions to it. Until she knew the nature of her imprisonment, they didn't need to know her service history.

Part of her felt bad for keeping so much from him. In another life, one where their species weren't at war, perhaps they could have been friends. They might have gotten into trouble and caused quite the ruckus together. She genuinely like him and he seemed a decent person. She'd never had anything personal against the turians on the whole- she rather respected their pack-oriented nature, the ideas of service and society first. Part of her imagined a galaxy where they maybe served together on the same ship, righting wrongs, battling mercenary and terrorist groups, the crew a mish-mash of humans and aliens. They could have been friends in that world.

But that world was only a fantasy, one dreamed up in the long hours of solitude spent in her cell. Nihlus had been kind enough to allow her to shower (with an armed guard) and wear clean clothing. She felt infinitely better than she had when she had first been brought aboard, covered in sweat, dirt, blood, and prison grime. Shepard kept herself busy between Garrus' visits by exercising, making sure her soldier's body kept its cut form.

Yet what had at the time seemed like endless hours of boredom suddenly became all too short when Nihlus and her armed guards arrived outsider her cell, cuffs in hand. They had arrived at Nanus.


	4. Chapter 4

The air of authority surrounding Warden Chellick was palpable to Shepard. His gold eyes stared her down through the observation window as she was stripped and checked over thoroughly by the medical intake staff. Her only real embarrassment was the effect the cold air of the exam room had on her skin, causing goose-bumps and her body hair to stand on end. She shivered slightly as the doctors pulled her limbs away from the warmth of her body to scan her. They poked and prodded, taking hair, blood and saliva samples. When they began to whisper conspiratorially to each other, casting anxious glances her way, she began to worry. Their scans had apparently revealed something of interest.

After seemingly endless examination by the medical staff, Shepard was placed on an exam table in a flimsy medical gown. Warden Chellick, Nihlus, and Garrus entered the small room and stood imposingly before her. She was uncomfortably small and vulnerable compared to their large, armored bodies. She found herself internally squirming at the thought of Garrus seeing her like this, pride all but forgotten.

"It would appear," Chellick said, gleaning the data pad in his hand, "That you are of more interest than you let on, human." His eyes flicked up to her- she met them evenly, saying nothing.

Chellick continued to read the data pad, his gaze occasionally moving to her before returning to the information in hand. Garrus and Nihlus stood as silent sentries by the door, their gazes considerably softer than the warden's. Finally turning off the data pad and folding his arms behind his back, Chellick drew himself up before her. Her eyes followed him up from under her brows.

"If my staff's initial scans are correct, it would appear that someone, somewhere, has been performing military medical enhancements that are prohibited in Citadel space. At this time, the exact nature of those enhancements is unknown. Your options are as follows: you can either tell us voluntarily, or we can work it out of you. The choice is yours." The turian's voice was without inflection, his words stated as points of fact.

Shepard's gaze wandered over the three turian's in front of her, weighing her words carefully. If what the warden said was to be trusted, they were still unaware of her value to the Alliance, yet knew she was of some value to someone. She would have to draw their discoveries out as long as possible, keep her out of Alliance hands as long as possible. Once the turians knew who exactly she was, she would become a bargaining chip and would most likely be returned to Alliance custody sooner, rather than later. She made her decision.

"Well, I would happily tell you," she said to Chellick, trying to keep her tone as similarly even as his, "However, that would require me to know in the first place. Yes, I was aware of the enhancements- but the extent of the procedures was never fully disclosed." It was true. Mostly.

The warden's eyes narrowed in contemplation. "In that case, my staff will find out." Shepard didn't like those words. Gold eyes stayed on her own. "Vakarian, Kryik, get her processed and integrated."

His orders given, the warden turned and strode purposefully from the room. Both of the remaining turians visibly relaxed.

"That went better than expected." Nihlus said. It did nothing for Shepard's confidence in her situation.

"Here, you'll need these," Garrus said quietly, holding an oddly familiar prison uniform out to her. Prison was about the same no matter where you were, it seemed. At least this fabric was more sturdy than her previous uniform. Despite however much of her body they had seen, Shepard still felt the need to turn her back to them as she changed out of her medical gown.

Cuffed once more, Garrus and Nihlus led her through a series of checkpoints and hallways. Heavily armed guards nodded in respect to the men flanking her. While her previous incarceration had been maximum security by Alliance standards, the Hierarchy had clearly higher standards. Any escape attempt might as well have been suicide by guard.

What she had not been expecting in the slightest was the setup of the prison. Her guards (companions? Captors?) explained the organization of the Nanus POW prison to her as they walked with her. The prisoners were segregated into two main groups: compliant, and non-compliant. Compliant prisoners were deemed to be generally non-violent, and consisted mostly of civilians or military contractors that ended up in turian control. This group lived in an enclosed internment camp area with open areas and barracks, with security fairly lax along the perimeter of the yards. The Non-Compliant prisoners were almost exclusively Alliance military, with a few rogue mercs thrown in. Housed in a heavily guarded wing of the prison, these individuals had proved themselves more than willing and capable of dealing violence out at a moment's notice. For them, security was much heavier and they were kept in locked cells. They were not trusted with the freedoms allotted the compliant prisoners.

"So which am I?" Shepard asked as they paused when they reached a split in the hallway. If they continued forward, they would eventually reach the Non-Compliant wing. If they turned left, they would go through the final checkpoint before emerging into the Compliant yard.

"Well, between our reports from the trip here and the warden's interaction with you, you've been deemed a non-threat. The hope is, since you're military, you'll cooperate and help find a way to end this incident quickly." Nihlus' voice almost sounded hopeful as he spoke. Shepard was beginning to think that the turians she had met thus far disliked this war as much as she did. If she made it through to the end of this thing, she was so going back to prison.

"I'll do what I can," she said quietly as the passed through the checkpoint.

A short distance down the hall was a heavily guarded door. Passing through it, Shepard was granted her first view of the Compliant's Yard. It was unlike anything she had been expecting.

The yard was a large, open grassy area that was more reminiscent of a refugee camp than a prison yard. Several large prefab barracks lined the East wall, providing the sleeping area for the prisoners. Along the West wall was the mess hall building. But in between, was what appeared to be a small town of tents and tarps propped up by flimsy poles, protecting those under them from the bright rays of Trebia. The humans occupying these tents were of all ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic standing. All of them existing in a place where their lives beyond these walls was inconsequential.

The prisoners in the tents nearest the door turned and faced Shepard and her guards. They smiled warmly in greeting and gave small waves to her. She dumbly waved back. She doubted they knew who she was, giving them no reason to hate her. A small girl with toffee skin and an unruly mop of curly auburn hair came running up. She appeared to be no more than eight or nine years of age, judging from her slight frame. Bright teeth gleamed in the light.

"Nihlus!" the girl squealed as she collided with the turian in question's legs, wrapping her thin arms around him. The look he cast to Garrus and Shepard silenced any smart remarks they may have been contemplating. The specter pried the human girl off his legs as gently as he could. "Hello, Nadia."

Nadia turned her gleeful smile to Shepard before eagerly grabbing the woman's calloused hand with her tiny one. "I'm Nadia! You must be new! I know everything there is to know! Come on, I'll show you around!"

Shepard could hardly begin to form a protest before the child began pulling her further into the yard. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she saw Garrus grinning and waving her off. "Don't worry, I'll be back to check on you later," he said before exiting the yard with Nihlus, leaving her to the mercies of the child attached to her arm.

Shepard spent the majority of the next several hours stumbling blindly after Nadia as the child pointed out the "who's who" of the Yard (as its inhabitants called it). The turians had been surprisingly lax about the Yard prisoners keeping personal possessions from when they were captured. Her initial impression of the Yard being more of a refugee camp than a prison had been fairly accurate, as the prisoners had managed to procure all manner of items they could desire during their time on Nanus. Nadia explained that Chellick was fairly generous with the Yard prisoners, sometimes allowing them access to any items of a personal nature that were found on captured ships. As long as the prisoners remained nonviolent and stayed in their issued uniforms, he cared little what they kept amongst themselves.

Shepard ate quietly during dinner as Nadia chatted away about what guards to get to know, what guards to stay away from, what food was good, what wasn't, who had access to extra rations and what those rations would cost (5 cigarettes per ration). It was all fairly standard prison talk. She allowed her mind to wander as the girl twittered on.

Soon, the Alliance would realize she was not among the dead from the turian strike. They would come looking for her. The turians considered her person of interest, given her cybernetic modifications. They knew she was at least former military, but did not know precisely who she was, or the role she had played in the war prior to her incarceration. There were perhaps countless Alliance soldiers with the name Shepard. They also were unaware of her crime, which would remain to her advantage if she wanted to stay out of the Cell Block (as Nadia had called it). At least she had begun to build some kind of rapport with Garrus and Nihlus. Surely that would work to her advantage.

After dinner was over, Nadia ran off somewhere else in the Yard, leaving Shepard to continue her contemplations in solitude. Lamps began to flicker to life under the tents as Trebia sank below the horizon. There were fewer children and families out now, choosing to turn in early. Small groups sat talking, laughing, and even playing cards as evening morphed into night. That was when Garrus kept his promise to check in on her.

"I see Nihlus' shadow has finally abandoned you," he chuckled as he walked up to her.

"I think she found someone else to pester."

"Undoubtedly. Settling in alright?" Shepard shrugged. "I suppose. This is a big change compared to my previous arrangement."

"Yeah, well, it will only stay this way as long as you keep Chellick happy and don't cause any trouble. The Violent's Wing is probably more in line with what you are accustomed to."

The slight warning in his words was not lost on her. She nodded in understanding. She wasn't an idiot- she would keep her head down.

he human convict and turian officer sat in silence, watching the last of the sun's rays give way to darkness, save for the lamps scattered through the Yard and the glow of his ever-present visor. There was nothing for them to talk about, at least not here, not now. All of that could wait. After Shepard yawned for the third time, Garrus bid her a good night, saying that she would need her rest.

Flopping unceremoniously into her bunk in the barracks, Shepard allowed herself to feel a glimmer of confidence in her grasp of her circumstances and her ability to work them to her advantage. As long as she took everything one day at a time, she should be able to ride this war out. The thought brought a smile to her face.


End file.
